Splinter Cell: The Next Generation
by SoundlyAwake
Summary: Sam Fisher is out of the game. But when trouble arises, he finds himself back in it, and deep. With a new apprentice, a homeless but talented orphan, Lyle, the two must band together to tackle one of the biggest conspiracies the nation has ever seen.


"It's been a long time Sam." Sam Fisher looked into the eyes of his oldest friend, Victor Coste and smiled. "Yeah. It has hasn't it?" He pulled the cup of coffee to his lips, black, just the way he liked it. No cream, no sugar. Clearing his throat, he put it back down again, relishing the feeling of the hot liquid in his throat.

"And how's Sarah doing these days?" Coste asked. He knew that Sam had been spending every waking moment with his daughter. It couldn't have been easy, living his life thinking she was dead for all that time. Sarah was truly all he had, without her he was an empty shell. It was good to see him alive again. Of course, he'd never be the same Sam Fisher he once was, but this Sam was just as good as any. One could even say he was happier now than ever before.

"She's fine. Engaged." Victor noticed the glint of disappointment in Sam's eyes for a moment, but that quickly subsided. She wasn't a little girl anymore and secretly, he wished for some grandchildren to occupy his time. The boy she was with now was upstanding and respectful, at least in front of him. And, of course, Sam had run a thorough background check on him, as soon as she'd announced they were dating. The boy checked out, and Sam couldn't be happier for his little girl. He just wished she'd slow down just a tad. . .

Victor's laugh drove him back to reality and Sam smiled. "Lost in my thoughts there. Sorry about that."

"Not a problem old friend. So tell me. How's life living in Australia? It can't be too exciting, there's nothing going on. No drug cartel, no conspiracies, nothing for the old Sam Fisher to take a crack at."

Sam shook his head. "That life ended for me a long long time ago. And with the new prime minister, things have been near heaven like here." And it was true. Dominic Lenzer had clean up the country, in ways that left everyone astounded and wondering how. Criminals emptied the jails, renewed, no longer turning to crime. The economy there was looking better than it ever had and even war seemed to be a myth now. The locals called him a miracle worker. The country was not without crime, but what country is? The most important thing was that things were looking up in a big way and everyone had Lenzer to thank for it. Of course, Sam knew, when things were to good to be true, they usually were. But as he'd stated before, he was out of that life now. He'd leave all that to the people who felt like handling it.

Sam suddenly looked alert. "Victor." His buddy only nodded. So. He wasn't the only one that felt that something wasn't right here. It was one of those quiets where you knew something was going to happen. He felt the reassurance of his pistol in his side holster and moved his hand closer towards it.

The explosion shattered the glass of the tiny cafe and sent both men reeling backwards. There was a sharp pain as Sam's head struck the side of a nearby booth and for a moment, he lost his bearings. What in the world was going on?

As he struggled to regain his composure, he saw a set of men, all clad in black, complete with motorcycle helmets, enter the cafe. All armed with automatic weapons, all complete with body armor. People were scrambling all around, bloody and bruised, trying to make a break for it. No one in the goup fired, only surveyed the carnage around them. For a moment, Sam thought they were after him. After all, his line of work hadn't made him any friends.

His question was quickly answered when one of the men quickly pointed past him. Sam turned just in time to see what looked like a young boy, hauling ass out the door to the kitchen. Three men ran after the boy, two stayed to stand guard the front. Sam looked at Vic, who nodded. They needed to find that boy.

Vic began to thrash wildly, faking a sezuire to draw the attention of the guards.

"What is going on here?" One of the guards came over, poking Victor with the barrel of his automatic weapon, obviously amused by the man's thrashing about on the floor. His accent was thick with Russian, Sam made a mental note of that as he eyed the other guard. Obviously well trained, he didn't pay Voctor or his partner any mind. So be it. Moving quickly, Sam launched a kick at the first guards knee. There was a sharp and distinct crack and the man dropped, screaming. In a flash, Sam had his pistol drawn and fired on the one remaining guard, quietly taking him out.

"Vic. Take care of that one. This little attack has struck my curiousity. Vic nodded and Sam headed through the kitchen and out the back. It wasn't hard to trail where the group had gone, there was a mess of debris where the kid had dumped trash bags, garbage cans, anything to stop his pursuers. Sam followed the trail, leading him through dozens of back alleys and side streets. He knew he was close when he heard the screeching of car tires. As he came through the alley, he saw the boy, in the middle of the street, still running, a car on the other side barrelling towards him. His heart dropped as he realized the boy getting hit was unavoidable. The skidding of the tires continued but the momentum was to great. However, just as the car hit the boy he leaped, sliding safely across the hood and dropping on the other side, rolling to catch himself. A quick desicive look in both directions and he was off again. The men, confused at the turn of events, hesitated breifly and Sam was able to overtake them in the chase.

He tailed the boy, barely able to get around a corner before the boy was out of sight again. This kid had a skill for evading a tail, Sam had to hand that to him. But he was finding all this running around to be rather tiring. He cut through the trash littered alleyway and back out into the street, half praying that the kid would do what he wanted. Two blocks later, he cut back in, sighing in relief as he heard quick footsteps growing closer. He pressed against the wall until the last second, bringing his arm out and stopping the boy in his tracks.

"Well. You're a slippery one." The boy just stared, a defiant look in his eyes. "Strong silent type." he mused. "Here." He handed the boy his cell phone. "I'm going to call you. Answer if you want to live." Sam backed off, scrambling up a ladder to get a vantage point on everything that was going on. Pulling out his OPSAT, he patched himself through to his own cell phone. He'd done his part. All that was left to do was to wait. And hope this kid was smart enough to answer.


End file.
